According to a new report from the United Church of Canada, “the
deepest meaning of the Holocaust was the denial of human dignity to
Jews.”

Oh, really? Actually, I’d say that the “deepest meaning of the
Holocaust” was the slaughter of six-million human beings. Being strip-
searched by police for no good reason is an infringement of
one’s “dignity.” Getting thrown into a gas chamber is a little bit
more serious. I’m guessing the last thoughts of the victims at
Auschwitz, as their silent shrieks left their throats, wasn’t “Oh my,
but this is undignified.”

So why that choice of phrase — “human dignity” — on the first page
of the United Church’s Report of the Working Group On
Israel/Palestine Policy? The answer becomes obvious in the very next
paragraph: “The working group is also aware that the Occupation has
meant a loss of dignity for Palestinian people” — including “the
denial of the legitimacy of the Palestinian experience.”

See how they did that? See how that magically expansive, all-
encompassing word “dignity” works? The Holocaust damaged “human
dignity.” So does the uprooting of Palestinian olive trees. So does a
pundit who fails to ponder the “Palestinian experience.” Why, it’s
all part of the same struggle. (Incidentally, the same trick works
with “social justice” — which is why you see that one thrown around a
lot by Middle East peace-studies types, too.)

The pity of it is that the substance of the United Church’s report,
which was released on Tuesday, isn’t particularly radical. Yes, it
repeats the slander that Christians “are leaving Palestine because of
the Israeli occupation, not because of conflict with Muslim
Palestinians” (one wonders if the dreaded Israeli Occupation is
equally to blame for the even greater mass exodus of Christians from
Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq). But it also clearly states that questioning
Israel’s “legitimacy” and its “right to exist” is unacceptable.
That’s a proposition that most of us find obvious, but which is a
live controversy in the left-wing NGO circles where United Church
types travel.

The report also sensibly states that “It is impossible to overstate
the threats to the existence of Israel,” including Iranian threats.
The authors discourage use of the term “apartheid” — since it “shuts
down conversation,” and oppose radical BDS (boycott, divestment and
sanctions) initiatives that target the entire Israeli economy.
Instead, they call for “focused economic action directed at products
produced in the settlements.” (This won’t please supporters of
Israel, of course. But keep in mind that activists have been calling
for this sort of boycott for years, and such efforts have never
caused so much as a blip on Israel’s economic radar.)

Perhaps the most notable aspect of the United Church report is its
extraordinarily defensive tone. Like the aforementioned sophistry
involving the term “human dignity,” much of the report seems aimed at
justifying the author’s own continuing obsession with Israel, and at
fending off the many critics who accuse the Church of anti-Zionist
monomania.

One section of the report, for instance, addresses “questions about
why Israel is currently the only country in the world being
challenged by a global boycott.” The answers supplied are wholly
inadequate: One is left wondering, for instance, why United Church
functionaries seem to care more about Israel than Sudan and Nigeria,
where real, murderous anti-Christian pogroms are a regular
occurrence. Yet the mere fact that the Church feels compelled to
address these obvious questions is good news, as it goes against the
prevailing wisdom (in conservative circles) that elites are becoming
more and more blindly hostile to the Jewish state.

In fact, the opposite phenomenon has been obvious for years in
Canada. Like the United Church, Canadian public-service unions and
academic groups that target Israel have been harshly criticized —
often by their own members. Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, a small
but noisy group that once insisted on marching in Toronto’s annual
Gay Pride parade, was forced to bow out. On campuses, Israeli
Apartheid Week recently has proved something of a dud — as left-wing
student activists move on to other causes, such as the Arab Spring
and, closer to home, the fight against Stephen Harper.

Yes, the Globe & Mail and Toronto Star still feature occasional anti-
Israel pieces from former UN ambassadors and the like. But their
heart isn’t really in it any more. Even the CBC, once the bugbear of
Canadian Israel-defenders, now features (largely) balanced coverage
on the subject. The scathing criticism of Israel that once was
featured regularly in these outlets is now relegated to niche web
sites such as rabble.ca, and tiny fringe groups such as Independent
Jewish Voices. As the United Church report shows, mainstream critics
of Israel no longer are willing to make common cause with such
radicals — which is why the movement now has descended into schism.